Fertility preferences and intentions (cont.)
Ideal and desired family size (cont.)
The figures below shows mean ideal number of children and total fertility rates in selected countries in the world.
Figure 4: Trends in mean desired number of children among women aged 15-49 and total fertility rates, selected countries
Source: STATCompiler
What can you tell from this figure?
Select the missing words from the pull-down menus below.
1. Mean ideal number of children in is highest among the 5 countries and have remained over 6 children for about 2 decades, whereas it declined by about 1 child in The mean ideal family sizes in are much lower and just over 2 children and presented slight decreases over years much lower and just over 2 children and presented slight decreases over years.
2. Difference between total fertility rate and ideal family size is greatest in , suggesting high level of unmet need for family planning. The gap of the two indicators narrowed over time most substantially in .
3. Unlike the other countries, total fertility rates are lower than the mean ideal family size in .